NEW YORK: The U.S. advertising market was down 12 percent for the first quarter of this year compared to 1Q08, according to Nielsen. Preliminary figures indicate U.S. ad expenditures declined $3.8 billion to a total of $27.9 billion in the first quarter. All measured media registered declines.

“These first quarter results will hardly come as a surprise to an advertising industry that’s struggling just like many other areas of the American economy,” said Annie Touliatos, vice president of sales development for Monitor-Plus, Nielsen’s ad tracking service.

Television remains the dominant medium for advertisers, accounting for two-thirds of all ad dollars. Network TV, the largest media category with $5.76 billion in ad dollars in the first quarter, declined 4.8 percent. Spanish-Language Cable TV fared best, falling only 1.1 percent, while Syndication was hit hardest, down 18.8 percent. Only African-American television--a subset of Network, Cable, Syndicated, and Local—grew, up 7.9 percent.

By category, automotive continued to slide. Spending in the category was down nearly $723 million, or 27.7 percent. Local dealership spending was down $271 million--around 24 percent. More than 3,000 dealerships completely stopped advertising.